Rescued sea lion released off Santa Cruz wharf

SANTA CRUZ &GT;&GT; With a splash, O'Neill the sea lion jumped back in the ocean on Tuesday, free from a real pain in the neck that had buoyed her off Santa Cruz.

The roughly 3-year-old female had a fish net wrapped around its neck for months and was rescued July 22 by a team from the Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito. After rescuers clipped off the net, they treated her for a week and released her off the O'Neill Sea Odyssey catamaran near the end of the Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf on Tuesday morning.

She was smelling the saltwater and appeared anxious to get out of the crate and into the water, said Dan Haifley, executive director of the O'Neill Sea Odyssey.

"She shot right out, and I think she felt a great amount of relief," Haifley said. "Seeing her be liberated was very liberating. This is the first time we've done that on the Sea Odyssey."

Leaders of the Marine Mammal Center said sea lions often get caught in fishing lines and nets, but are able to be rescued more often because they are malnourished. The center, which responds to stranded marine mammals from San Luis Obispo to Mendocino County, rescued 727 sea lions this year. That's already topped the 521 sea lions the group rescued in 2012, though it's unclear why the rescues have jumped.

Barbie Halaska, stranding coordinator for the Marine Mammal Center, said many of the sea lions could be spared from entanglements if anglers and other ocean visitors would keep nets, rubber bands and plastics from becoming ocean debris.

"If (fishing) lines get broken, collect the trash," Halaska said. "Even for people at home, animals get tangled in rubber bands, so cut them up."

Marine mammals like sea lions often can't see such debris and get tangled in it, she said.

If people see injured or stranded sea mammals, call the Marine Mammal Center at 831-633-6298, Halaska said.

Luckily for O'Neill, a few people had seen her wrapped in netting as she rested on a U.S. Coast Guard buoy west of the Santa Cruz Small Craft Harbor this month. She was also spotted lounging under the wharf.

Kayakers Amber Jones and Neil Simmons saw her, but she swam away. Jones told Haifley about her, and Haifley called the Marine Mammal Center to see what they could do.

Doug Ross, a volunteer with the Marine Mammal Center, said sea lions have died in similar circumstances because fishing lines cut into their skin as they grow.

"They're suffering, and it's cruel and inhumane for it to continue," Ross said.

On July 21, a crew of six from the Marine Mammal Center came to Santa Cruz to find the sea lion, who eventually was named O'Neill. The spotted her but couldn't catch her, so they attached an acoustic transmitter to her and returned the next day.

They found her at Seal Rock off Steamer Lane, where they shot a tranquillizer dart into her and scooped her out of the water, said Halaska, the stranding coordinator.